Wednesday, January 30, 2013

Here's Your Sign...

Please forgive me, I am about to go on a rant.I understand that peaceful parenting is not for everyone, really I do.
But in the last few days I have seen too many examples of people
publicly humiliating their kids not to say something. One
example- Josh's friend was playing over. Apparently his mom had
expected him home, so she came by to pick him up. I opened the door, let
her in, and as soo...n
as her son emerges from the hallway, she starts yelling at and scolding
him. Right in front of me and Josh. I understand his mom was upset, but
I don't understand why all that couldn't have waited until they were
back home and able to talk privately. I'm sure she would not appreciate
her son yelling at her anywhere, especially not in a public setting.

I won't go on about the new trend of parents forcing their children to
hold humiliating signs in public, or posting something to the internet,
as I could go on for pages about how ineffective that is, but I see them
too often. Every time I am so saddened not only by the pictures, but
also by the hundreds of comments from people encouraging more parents to
act like that or worse.

What we all need to realize and
remember and remind ourselves regularly, is that children are mirrors of
ourselves. If we want them to treat us respectfully, well dammit we
need to be respectable people. We need to model the behavior we want
them to reflect. If they're being dishonest, disrespectful, rude, and
inconsiderate then we need to take a good look in the mirror and see
where they're learning it from.